11.

The etymology of English words Germanic words such cognates can always be found, as, for instance, for the
A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock as knownfollowing words of the Indo-European group. Bird, boy, girl, daisy
from the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period. a) loan-words proper (borrowing proper, phonetic borrowing, true
Native words are further subdivided into the words of the Indo-European stock borrowing) - a word was borrowed aa a whole complex of sounds: table
and those of the Common Germanic origin (f. French), sputnik (f. Russian).
b) semantic loans (semantic borrowing, loan shift) - development in an
By the Indo-European element are meant words of roots common to all or most English word of a new meaning due to the influence of a related word in
languages of the Indo-European group. English words of this group denote another languages e.g. pioneer a member of the Young Pioneers
elementary concepts without which no human communication would be Organization from the Russian pioner. The English
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possible. The following groups can be identified. Family relations: father, word PIONEER means an explorer, a person who comes first.
mother, brother, son,daughter c) loan translation - a word-for-word translation from another language:
Parts of the human body: foot (cf. R. ), nose, lip, heart. Animals: cow, self-criticism, socialist democracy, workers faculty, wall newspaper
swine, goose.Plants: tree, birch (cf. R. ), corn (cf. R. ).Time of from Russian, fifth column f, Sp. quinta columna, masterpiece f. G.
day: day, night. VI. Heavenly bodies: sun, moon, star.Numerous Meister Stuck.
adjectives: red (cf. Ukr. , R. ), new, glad (cf. R. ),The Assimilation of loan words
numerals from one to a hundred.Pronouns personal (Scandinavian Words when they migrate from one language into another adjust
borrowing); demonstrative. themselves to their new environment and get adapted to the norms of the
recipient language. They undergo certain changes which gradually erase
The Germanic element represents words of roots common to all or most their foreign features, and, finally, they are assimilated.
Germanic languages. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the The term assimilation of a loan word is used to denote a partial or total
same as in the Indo-European element. Parts of the human body: head, hand, conformation to the phonetical, graphical and morphological standards of
arm, finger, bone. Animals: bear, fox, calf. Plants: oak, fir, grass. Natural the receiving language and its semantic system, i.e. the process of
phenomena: rain, frost.. Seasons of the year: winter, spring, assimilation of borrowings includes changes in sound form,
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summer. Landscape features: sea, land.. Human dwellings and morphological structure, grammar characteristics, meaning and usage.
furniture: house, room, bench.. Sea-going vessels: boat, ship.Adjectives: green,
blue, grey, white, small, thick, high, old, good.Verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, Phonetic assimilation comprises changes in sound form and stress.
answer, make, give, drink. Sounds that were alien to the English language were fitted into its
it has been mentioned that the English proper element is, in certain respects, scheme of sounds, e.g. In the recent French borrowings communique,
opposed to the first two groups. Not only can it be approximately dated, but cafe the long [e] and [c] are rendered with the help of [ei]. The accent is
these words have another distinctive feature: they are specifically English usually transferred to the first syllable in the words from foreign sources.
having no cognates2 in other languages whereas for Indo-European and Table, plate, courage

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 E.g., street, sport, spouse
Grammatical adaptation consists in a complete change of the former
paradigm of the borrowed word (i. e. system of the grammatical forms 2.Partially assimilated words
peculiar to it as a part of speech). If it is a noun, it is certain to adopt, a. Phonetically and/or graphically non-assimilatedwords possess phonetic
sooner or later, a new system of declension; if it is a verb, it will be and/or spelling features of the source-word.
conjugated according to the rules of the recipient language. Yet, this is E.g., garage, machine, zucchini, caf
also a lasting process. The English Renaissance borrowings as datum B. Morphologically (grammatically) non-assimilatedwords retain their
(pi. data), phenomenon (pi. phenomena), criterion (pi. criteria) whereas foreign plurals.
earlier Latin borrowings such as cup, plum, street, wall were fully E.g., crisis crises; erratum errata; formula formulae
adapted to the grammatical system of the language long ago. C. Semantically non-assimilated words denote phenomena of a foreign
culture.E.g., the Kremlin, kasha, blini (Russ.)
By semantic adaptationis meant adjustment to the system of meanings
of the vocabulary. Borrowing is generally caused either by the necessity Non-assimilated loan words (barbarisms) (they have not been assimilated at
to fill a gap in the vocabulary or by a chance to add a synonym all so foreign words havent enter the word-stock of English and are used
conveying an old concept in a new way. for some specific purposes) addio good-bye chiao
The adjective large, for instance, was borrowed from French in the Etymological doublets.
meaning of "wide". It was not actually wanted, because it fully Sometimes the word is borrowed twice from the same language. As a
coincided with the English adjective wide without adding any new result we have 2 different words with different spellings and meanings.
shades or aspects to its meaning. This could have led to its rejection. But historically they come back to one and the same word. They are
Yet, large managed, to establish itself very firmly in the English called etymological doublets. The words shirt and skirt etymologically
vocabulary by semantic adjustment. It entered another synonymic descend from the same root. Shirt is a native word, and skirt is a
group with the general meaning of "big in size". At first it was applied Scandinavian borrowing shade. There also can be etymological triplets
to objects characterised by vast horizontal dimensions, thus retaining a 3 words in the language having the same source: hospital (Lat.)
trace of its former meaning, and now, though still bearing some features hostel (Norman) hotel (Fr.).
of that meaning, is successfully competing with big having approached
it very closely, both in frequency and meaning. International words.
It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, and
ASSIMILATION OF LOAN WORDS not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts which are
Degree of assimilationof loanwords: significant in the field of communication. Many of them are of Latin
1. Completely assimilated words cannot be distinguished from and Greek origin. Most names of sciences are international, e. g.
nativewords either phonetically, graphically, morphologically or philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine,
semantically. linguistics, lexicology. Words of identical origin that occur in several
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languages as a result of simultaneous or successive borrowings from musical terms are accepted and used in the whole world. They are:
one ultimate source are called international words. International words accent, accompaniment, allegretto, allegro, cadence, chord, crescendo,
play a prominent part in various terminological systems including the forte, fortissimo, interval, lento, melody, piano, pianissimo, scale,
vocabulary of science, industry and art. tempo, tone, etc.
Latin words are also used nowadays in science and medicine by
biologists, physicians, doctors and pharmacists. Latin medicinal terms French influence of the later periods mainly pertains to diplomatic
continue to play the central function in the development of world relations, social life, art and fashions. French remained the international
medicine. New cures appear and besides the name given by their language of diplomacy for several hundred years. Examples of
creators, they receive an international Latin name. The same happens diplomatic terms are: attach, communiqu, dossier, etc. The words:
with other discoveries and inventions in the field of Biology, Zoology, ball, cortege, caf, coquette, hotel, picnic, restaurant refer to social life.
Psychology, etc. In the domain of chemistry, international terms occupy Ballet, ensemble, essay, genre relate to art. Military terms are: brigade,
a rather important place. The words that denote chemical elements are marine, police. Fashions in dress and food are illustrated by words like:
international: aluminum, bismuth, gallium, germanium, lithium, blouse, corsage, champagne, menu, soup.
magnesium, selenium, tellurium, titanium, etc.

Greek is also a very important source for international vocabulary. The invention of computer causes the appearance of new international
Words of this origin are special terms: philanthropy, cosmography, words. These words penetrate in our everyday live and are used by the
agronomy, oligarchy, etc. A distinct semantic group of Greek greater part of the population, because the computers are nowadays
international words pertains to theatre, literature and rhetoric: anapest, indispensable in our society.
comedy, climax, critic, dialogue, drama, elegy, epilogue, episode, The most popular words are: internet, CD-ROM, monitor, display, file,
prologue, rhythm, scene, theatre, etc. A new impulsion for the creation printer, disk, scanner, mouse, cursor, click, etc. Nowadays, the
of international words was given by the great technical progress of the electronic media that bind the world together are the essential carriers
20th c., which is reflected in hundreds of newly coined terms or Latin of language. To work efficiently, they need a common standard.
and Greek words applied in new meanings, eg.: allergy, antibiotic, The English language is now the operating standard for global
hormones, protein, stratosphere, etc. all based on Greek roots. communication. Electronic communications have created a need for a
Examples of new application of Latin terms are: introvert radioactive, global language and English will fill that slot.
relativity, etc. Some terms are Greco-Latin hybrids, as they combine A large number of English words are to be found in the vocabulary
Latin and Greek roots: sociology, television, telegraph, telepathy, etc. pertaining to clothes: jersey, pullover, sweater, nylon, tweed etc. Cinema
and different forms of entertainment are also a source of many
The mankinds cultural debt to Italy is reflected in great number of international words of English origin: film, club, cocktail, jazz. We find
Italian words connected with architecture, painting and especially numerous English words in the field of sport: football, out, match,
music that were borrowed into most European languages. Italian tennis, time.
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